Dick Falkenbury grew up and spent most of his life in the Roosevelt area of Seattle. He began driving cabs in 1978, later becoming a tour driver and tour bus driver in 1992. In 1996, having worked in many liberal political campaigns in the Seattle area, Falkenbury wrote and led an initiative effort to build a monorail throughout Seattle.

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This and That, Then and Now

There are enormous changes coming to law enforcement. Technology will bring changes. The changes will come with such speed and breadth, they will overcome any effort to stop or even slow them, once they are in place and functioning.

The next generation of autos will have both forward-looking cameras and GPS devices. Soon, they will both be on nearly every car; insurers will refuse to insure the cars without them. The cameras will reduce the cost of investigating accidents to nil. The GPS will make stealing a car nearly a guarantee of capture–immediate and sure.

With forward-looking cameras, a crime committed in public will become only for those who don’t care if they are caught or not or the truly insane. Imagine that you have fired a weapon at someone. The police will simply put out a ‘time-and-vicinity’ notice. Anyone whose car camera recorded the criminal’s car and presence in the area will receive a reward.

If your car is stolen, not only is it recovered, but the police will be able to track it to the chop shop, the accomplice’s residence or any number of places. (The GPS will be hidden and not easily located, like the Vehicle Identification Numbers.)

Another innovation will be the drone. The Seattle Police Department may not have a drone, but someone will. Their drone will fly over the city like a super private security system. I doubt very much if the FDA can stop them. These drones would be notified of a break-in, swoop in and investigate. They will take pictures and follow suspects to the very ends of the earth, if need be. If you can pay someone to respond with a car, how could you stop someone from responding with a drone?

These technology devices will cause society to reexamine the entire question of the tasks of police departments everywhere.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate..